A 52-year-old New Bedford man has been charged with sending obscene photographs and messages to a 12-year-old Dartmouth boy via Facebook.

By NATALIE SHERMANnsherman@s-t.com

NEW BEDFORD — A local activist was held on $5,000 cash bail Friday after being charged with exchanging “hundreds” of sexually graphic Facebook messages with a 12-year-old Dartmouth boy, officials said.

David Gould, 52, of Grinnell Street, the founder of the former Whalingcity.info website, was arraigned in New Bedford District Court Friday morning.

Police said they arrested him at his home Thursday on a warrant for disseminating obscene material to a minor and enticement of a child under 16.

A relative of the alleged victim notified police in early January about “disturbing” Facebook messages sent to the boy, Dartmouth Detective Kyle Costa said. Police suspended the boy’s account and reviewed about a week’s worth of messages, described as “sexual” and “graphic” in court documents, Costa said.

Gould, who was introduced to the boy on Facebook through a mutual friend, was also apparently attempting to meet the boy in person, Costa said.

Gould was a member of Citizens in Action for Progress, an activist group that in the mid-2000s closely monitored the city’s politicians and pushed for improvements in trash cleanup.

In 1993, Gould was convicted of one count of indecent assault and battery on a child under 16. Police arrested him in 2006 for failing to register as a Level 2 sex offender. Those charges were dismissed in 2007 at the request of prosecutors.

“It is what it is,” Gould told The Standard-Times when arrested in 2006. “It’s a 15-year-old record. I didn’t spend a year in jail. It was maybe a few months. There’s no point in even rearguing or rehashing what happened.”

Gould’s court-appointed attorney Jeremy Waxler could not be reached for comment Friday.

If released on bail, Gould: must wear a GPS monitoring bracelet; stay away from children under 16, the victim and his family; is forbidden to use devices with access to the Internet, and is subject to random searches by probation, according to court documents and the District Attorney’s Office. A pre-trial hearing is scheduled for March 7.

Costa said that the 12-year-old is the only alleged victim police are aware of. Police still need to analyze the contents of several pieces of “electronic equipment” seized at the time of the arrest, he said .

District attorney spokesman Gregg Miliote said the investigation is ongoing.

“We are, along with the Police Department, investigating this matter and what this matter leads to is unknown at this point,” he said.